OAKLAND — What was first thought to be a pipe bomb found in the car of a suicidal man Monday night in East Oakland turned out to be a device used to make hash oil, authorities said Tuesday.

The heavy-gauge plastic pipe capped at both ends was remotely opened by the Alameda County Sheriff’s Bomb Squad and ventilated before it was determined to be a hash oil extractor and contained no explosives.

The device was found by police about 5:10 p.m. Monday in a parked car at the intersection of Oakport and Lesser streets near Interstate 880 and the Oakland Coliseum.

Police said the car belonged to a 37-year-old man who earlier had told people he was feeling suicidal and wanted police to kill him, authorities said.

The man was not in the area and when officers began going through the car, they found the device.

The area was immediately sealed off and the bomb squad summoned.

Police also began looking for the man, who was eventually found walking in the area of the 4000 block of Alameda Avenue.

Sheriff’s Sgt. Ray Kelly said the bomb squad initially treated the device as a bomb until they were able to open a hole in it and determine there were no explosive elements inside and that it was a hash oil extractor.

Some butane was also found in the car and Kelly said that is also used in the hash oil extrication process, the final product being called “honey oil.”

He said such devices as well as the process can be extremely dangerous and some people who have been involved in the extraction process have caused explosions and fires.

He said authorities are seeing “more and more” of the homemade devices in the region and that they are treated as bombs until deemed otherwise.

No marijuana or hash was found in the car, authorities said.

The man was arrested for violating a restraining order a relative had against him and was taken to a hospital for a psychiatric evaluation. Police also recovered a replica gun belonging to the man at a relative’s home.

Harry Harris is a Pulitzer Prize winning breaking news reporter for the Bay Area News Group. He began his Oakland Tribune career in September 1965 as a 17-year-old copyboy. He became a reporter in 1972 and is considered one of the best crime and breaking news reporters in the country. He has covered tens of thousands of murders and other crimes in the East Bay. He has also mentored dozens of young reporters, some of whom continue to work in journalism today.